The Real Facts of War

War has always been a touchy subject, but one that people support none the less. The reason we as Americans are so ready to wear the red, white, and blue on our sleeve is because when it comes to war our freedom is in danger. The truth behind the matter is in most of these cases our freedom is not in danger and their is no real terror out there. In Chapter 5 Facts Can Save Your Life, Jackson and Jamieson delve into these issues very deeply by explaining the happens of such wars as The Spanish-American War of 1898, the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War, and even the current "war" in Iraq. The authors explain how all of these wars began as a result of false pretenses and even propaganda used by the government to basically force the American people to support the decisions of its government. The pretenses I speak of are such things as a girl named Nayirah, a member of the Kuwaiti royal family, who in 1991 disguised as a 15 year old Kuwaiti that worked in a hospital where Iraqui militants were killing babies and paid for by, gave a testimony in front of a body of U.S. Representatives. The story sent chills down the spines of many Americans and the rest is history. This story was not backed up by actual workers in the hospital and Nayirah turned out to be the daughter opf Kuwaits ambassador to Washington who was just the creative genius of a PR firm who was paid for by Kuwait to do exactly what they had done, cause tension within America against the Iraquis The truth of course wasn't revealed until almost a year after the war had ended and the damage had already been done. Don't worry though there was of course an actual reason why the American government was so ready to support the fight against "the baby killers" and that was to keep Iraq's hands of Kuwaits rich oil mines. So yes the country may have went to war anyway, but without the support of its people it would have been much harder to do such a thing. The point of this whole story is why are we as Americans so ready to buy little American flags or supportive bumper stickers for our cars? The reason is that propaganda is all around us and especially in time of war. Government are smart and know how to push our buttons and grab our attention, so what can we do in defense you may ask. The same thin Brooks and Jamieson tell us to do try and avoid the spin and check the facts and try not to be so ready to support war next time so that we can try and avoid something we may regret later on (sound familiar?)